Archive for January, 2012

Tapeulator Contractor is a ruler or a yard stick in everyone’s back pocket but rather something huge sticking out of someones pocket it is just their phone. When entering a measurement the interface looks almost exactly like the standard calculator app with some slight differences. One of these differences would be the ability to use feet, inches, or centimeters which is nice as it makes the apps have versatility all over the world.

This really does look like the standard calculator app.

Upon entering a distance the user is taken to a “ruler”. The ruler will tell what that measurement is in feet, inches, and centimeters no matter what the original measurement the user inputted was. It will also show the measurement on the “ruler”. Unfortunately that is all there is to the app. There is no way to move the ruler to scroll around different measurements although the ruler can be put into landscape mode which does not really add much to the experience. There really is not much to do with this app unless there is already a measurement in the user’s head.

It looks nice but there isn't much here.

Overall the app is really nice and clever but only provides as much versatility for someone who would constantly be using an app like this.

Susan Says is really Simon Says except without all the body movement and tricks by whoever “Simon” is. The game only has 7 different tasks it can throw at the player ranging from tapping to flipping the screen to even shaking the device. The gameplay is exceedingly simple and anyone can enjoy this game although I would only highly recommend this game for young children.

The game shows a picture of the action, has the text of the action, and will even say the action out loud for whoever is playing. This makes the game great for kids who can not read yet and will hear the words and see them on the screen almost like a reading mini-game within an actual game. It will also help a young child with their comprehension skills and being able to react to directions. Unfortunately for those of us past this stage in our life the game is fun but only for a short while. The game really is perfect for parents with children on the young side of life and is a great purchase for them.

The interface is clean and simple but at the same time amazingly fast and reactive and never missed a beat. The game recognizes ever input immediately and the player can never complain that the reason they lost was because the computer had not realized they had in fact inputted the correct command. The game is also pleasing to look at and never becomes a sore on the eyes.

I really do love this design.

I personally found the countdown to take a bit to long for my liking and rather when should have felt like 3 seconds felt more like 10 but that is a small complaint in the grand scheme of life and the only real problem is that this game will only keep the little ones in our lives to not want to stop playing while not providing much for the older ones.

The music app downloading “genre” has seen a recent resurgence in the app store. Almost all of the apps boast the same qualities and most rarely do anything different from one another to justify owning more than one. This app fulfills the status quo and then some by adding in a nice feature I have not seen before.

The app’s browser has 9 sites bookmarked from the start and each has a nice picture of the site on the homepage and of course a user could always go to any site they wish. The browser is the standard of the iDevices and does nothing remarkable. The downloading process is easy and for me went fairly fast. I personally liked being able to download zips and then being able to run them immediately. Once the user is able to view their downloaded songs the process go remarkably easier for me. Adding things to playlist and changing song titles was as easy as the push of a button and the button was very easy to find I might add. The process also looks pleasant and is not a sore on the eyes but still nothing out of the ordinary in this type of app.

I love this look.

The nicest change in this app compared to others that do the same thing is in the Player feature. Instead of a boring gray screen with a music icon over it the user is greet by a colorful screen in which multiple things can happen. For instance the user has the capability to change from default to Halloween to Thanksgiving or even to Christmas. I personally preferred to keep it in default though as some of the music playing features are harder to find in the other modes. Upon playing music the user is greeted with musical notes coming out of the time bar in proportion to the loudness of the note. The louder it is the bigger the note and vice versa. That seems like something that is not necessary but in reality it adds a layer of depth to the app that a user will sorely miss upon using another app of the same type.

This made the app for me.

Unfortunately the music notes is the only thing this app does differently from the other apps of this type. But if anyone is in the market for this type of app I would highly recommend this one if only for its subtle improvements over the others.

This receives a 7.5

*This site in no way condones illegal activities. There are legal sites that can be used to download music using this app’s features and the site highly recommends those methods are used.*

BrainPicker : Reece Mastin is a trivia game. A trivia game centered not only on one topic but on one person who has only lived 17 years of their life. This causes the game to based on such obscure information that I am not even sure the most hard core fan would know. And if in case someone would not know Reece Mastin is a younger singer (I did not know this until I read the bio of him).

I read the Bio on the app and his life sounds pretty interesting I suppose but other than that it in no way prepared me for the actual quiz. The quiz asks questions such as “What was his second tattoo?” or “What is his middle name?”, things that we not even mentioned in the bio. Heck, I am not even sure how they know they would have had to do some major sleuthing to find some of this info out. There is also a Video tab with 2 videos both not really worth watching. The quiz itself is sound. All the buttons work and the correct notification appears upon getting it right or wrong, not that it mattered to me as over half off my answers were random guesses. Not to mention the app will not even tell the player what the correct answer is thereby eliminating any chance off learning anything from the game.

I saw this way to frequently.

Overall I can only actually recommend this app to the most hardcore Reece Mastin fans. I did learn things about him but nothing I could not have found on Wikipedia with little trouble. To anyone who has never heard of this young man, stay away from this app because the trivia will greatly confuse any player.

Drop Dem has an extremely basic premise. The whole point of the game is to knock fruit off of a tree so a creature on the bottom can collect them, the creature will show a picture of the fruit he wants knocked down. Knocking down a fruit is done via a downward swipe. The player is given only 60 seconds to rack up as high of a score as they can. There are less than 10 fruit and only about 4 types per level which can lead to seeing the same fruit quite often but having more would not have added anything to the game. The trees do change color and size occasionally too although this does not change the gameplay at all.

Get used to seeing those fruit plus a few others.

That said, the game is really addictive and the game benefits largely from the use of achievements in Game Center. Giving it the sense that in only a few more games and the next achievement will get unlocked which was a constant motivator for me. The gameplay is so simple that anyone can do it which makes it a great game to get people involved in gaming on an iDevice.

That said there is some slight strategy to the game. At the beginning of each start-up there is the ability to buy ” power ups” which can multiply a player’s score by two, make fruit fall, etc, etc. They are bought with money that is gained from playing the game. On some of the fruit a small yellow leaf is noticed and if that fruit is knocked off money will be added to the player’s “bank”.

With the game being so simple there are some problems. Some players might tire of the very simple gameplay mechanics while others might accuse the game of being to casual. There is a free version to those who are hesitant and those who do try the game should play for about half hour and then decide on a verdict.

Yes, I want to know. I want to know your opinions of this site. I have been posting reviews for about 6 days now and the site has been up for one week. So I would like to know what people like, hate, love, or what they want to see going on this site. As always if you want to tell me you can do it on twitter, @natehubes or comment on this post. I will be waiting and reading. Not to mention that I would like to thank all the developers who have had faith in me in this beginning stage by letting me review their apps. I would also like to thank the people that view this site because it is nice to know that somebody is reading my work.

Ice Wings is just one of those magical games that made me lose track of time. When the player dies it would instantly tell me what score was achieved and how much money I made and then give me a replay button. I pressed that button so many times and do not regret any of it.

This game is a lot like the standard “jump” game that so heavily populates the App Store but that does not lessen this game’s quality at all. While it has similarities with that genre it provides some things that they have not. For instance this game is one of the most graphically intensive of the genre and everything looks beautiful minus the water. The game is more of a third person perspective rather than a flat type of perspective as seen in Doodle Jump. This provides times where the game is sped up so much that the player literally can not blink unless they wish to die. The killing of enemy unit types also provides for some satisfying gameplay. Each unit is worth a different amount of money and the money flows quickly so soon the player will have enough for whatever plane they were saving up for, unfortunately there are only three planes so an average player will have them all unlocked probably within a week of playing. Although for some odd reason the most expensive plane has the exact same stats as the cheapest plane and the only difference is that it looks cooler.

There are a ton of control options for this game, it has 5 options, and even has a left hand/right hand button positioning option. I personally preferred the Large Shoot Button option but it is possible to play with the accelerometer. The control schemes all work well but each one will work better for a different type of player.

So many choices.

There is absolutely no story to this game. If that is what someone would be looking for, do NOT purchase this game there are other games that have a story and players will find a much more fulfilling story in those games. For some reason the game also does not include Game Center. This is a odd decision as the game is basically based entirely off of scores but the player will only be able to see the top 10 scores on their device. Having Game Center leader boards would make it easier to compete with friends and provide a reason to continually play once all the planes have been unlocked. The only other slight problem is the water below the plane looks as though it is made out of colored paper. Even with those problems the game is still a blast to play and something that people should not pass up. My personal biggest problem was the lack of Game Center support which could always be remedied in a future update.